One of the most famous animals in China, the Giant Panda is a mammal native to central-western and south western China. The Giant Panda is a member of the Ursidae (bear) family. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the Giant Panda’s diet is 99% bamboo. Other parts of its diet include honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, and bananas when available.

The Giant Panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Due to farming, deforestation, and other development, the Giant Panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees.

The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people’s sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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Also known as Chengde Li Palace and Rehe Imperial Palace, the Summer Resort is situated in the north part of the city center of Chengde, Hebei. It is here that the emperor of Qing dynasty to spend summer holidays and handle governmental affairs. It was originally built in Kangxi 42nd year (1703), and finished in Qianlong 57th year (1792). The total acreage is 5640 thousand m2, with a building area of about 100 thousand m2, and there are more than 110 construction sites and all together 184 scenic spots (including the 36 sites titled by Kangxi and Qianlong); the winding palace wall is more than 190 km long; it is the biggest ancient emperor palace now exist in China.

In 1994 December, Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei was honored as “World Cultural and Natural Heritage” by the UN Organization of Science, Education and Culture. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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A fascinated art, originally a form of local theatre, Peking Opera spread all over the country and then became the national opera of China. About 200 years ago, the Qing Emperor Qianlong toured in southern China and developed an interest in the local operas. On his 80th birthday, he let local opera troupes come to Beijing to perform for him. Some remained in Beijing after the celebration. The ones from Anhui and Hubei were incorporated with the palace opera -Kunqu Opera, which formed the Peking Opera .Peking Opera combines stylized acting with singing, dancing, musical dialogues, martial arts, colorful facial make-up and fantastic costumes.

 
Male roles are “Sheng”, and clowns are “Chou”. Each role, according to their sex, age and disposition, is characterized by different designs of facial make-up, say, Jing representing a rough, frank character and Hua Face representing a cruel or sinister character. So the audience can easily tell what kind of character an actor is performing.Facial make-up, costumes and head – dresses are wonderful works of traditional art. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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 ”New York Times” (www.nytimes.com) has named The 31 Places to Go in 2010, the southern Chinese city of Shanghai,  ranked No. 12.

To many, the idea of a World Expo might seem like a dated, superfluous throwback from some preglobalized age. (Remember the one in Aichi, Japan? Enough said.) But tell that to the 70 million who are expected to attend Expo 2010 in Shanghai. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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 ”New York Times” (www.nytimes.com) has named The 31 Places to Go in 2010, the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen,  ranked No. 20.

Chances are, the iPod in your pocket was made in Shenzhen, China. But this industrial powerhouse of a city on the Pearl River Delta in the southern region of the country, is more than just a factory town of sweatshops and bad smog — and it has the high-class hotels and high rollers to prove it. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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Taishan Mountain in Shandong was included as “World Cultural and Natural Heritage” by UNESCO in Dec 1987.
Taishan Mountain, a typical representative of the Chinese famous traditional mountains, is a mountain with a long history and a special historic status. In 1982, Taishan Mountain was up into the list of State key scenic spots and was formally listed in the directory of World Natural and Cultural Heritage in 1987. It becomes a precious heritage of human being. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago. The excavated colored pottery with painted human faces, fish, deer and frogs indicates that the Chinese began painting as far back as the Neolithic Age. Over the centuries, the growth of Chinese painting inevitably reflected the change of time and social conditions. From Primitive to Modern. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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ABOUT TAI CHI?

The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the ‘Supreme Ultimate Force’. The notion of ’supreme ultimate’ is often associated with the Chinese concept of yin-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality (male/female, active/passive, dark/light, forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things. ‘Force’ (or, more literally, ‘fist’) can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this ying-yang, or ’supreme-ultimate’ discipline.

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so- called forms (sometimes also called ’sets’) which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds) although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

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The Palace Museum (gugong) in the center of Beijing is historically and artistically one of the most comprehensive museums in China, and uses as its foundation the Forbidden City, a palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1840), and their collection of treasures. READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Popularity: 18% [?]